Support is requested for a versatile, high performance mass spectrometer at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. Contained in this proposal is a request to purchase a Finnigan LCQ- DECA ion trap mass spectrometer for the analysis of a wide spectrum of samples generated in the research community of a large Health Science Center. The mass spectrometer will be housed physically and administratively within the UTMB Protein Chemistry Laboratory, a core facility that has served the UTMB research community since 1975. The requested instrumentation will be utilized by a major group of nine NIH- funded investigators for at least 75% of the time. A representative minor user group of 7 NIH-funded researchers is expected to use the instrumentation for the remainder of the available time. Together these investigators represent a multi-disciplinary group of basic and clinical researchers who are inquiring into the fundamental aspects of biomedical sciences that significantly impact on disease process. Health environmental health, neurogenetic disease, eye disease, diabetes, immunity, bacterial diseases, and pain. The user groups encompass multi- disciplinary research areas that include biochemistry, genetics, cell biology, microbiology, xenobiotics, immunology, pathology, neurology, environmental toxicology, pharmacology, and molecular biology. The combined funding of these investigators number 34 NIH grants, including program project, enter, and RO1 grants, and their total annual NIH support is about $5.2 million dollars. Acquisition of the requested instrumentation will significantly enhance the ability of these investigators to conduct their ongoing research and moreover is expected to extend research opportunities in the future to higher productivity levels.